Details of Railway Accidents in the Ottawa Area

1971,
January 22 - 23 cars derail just
east of Long Sault, Canadian National Kingston subdivision.

From Ottawa Journal Saturday 23 January 1971

Freight Train Derailed A
Canadian National .Railways freight train was derailed east of the Long
Sault Station Friday when 23 cars, carrying steel bars, were forced off
the tracks.No one was injured. Cause of the derailment has not been released by CNR. Engineer
Ernest Jackson of Brockville said the Toronto-Montreal train was
travelling about 55 miles an hour at the time. Six cars remained on the
tracks. About 400 feet of eastbound track was demolished.
Passenger service has been disrupted and CNR is providing bus service
from Cornwall to Toronto while work crews repair the track.Toronto!
- Montreal passenger trains are being diverted at Brockville to Smiths
Falls and from there will take a Canadian Pacific Railways line to
Montreal.

Ottawa Citizen Saturday 23 January 1971

Derailment confusion. Travellers irked by delayMajor
re-routings of Canadian National mainline trains Friday afternoon
brought howls of protest from passengers stranded at stations in Smiths
Falls and Ottawa."They gave us no meal money, not even a coffee. I
paid three dollars for celery, potato salad and chicken salad," said an
Ottawa-bound passenger who had been delayed two hours in Smiths Falls.The
derailment of a freight train at Long Sault Friday afternoon cut both
east and westbound tracks from Toronto to Montreal. One track was to be
reopened by this morning. The re-routings meant some Ottawa-Toronto
passenger service was disrupted or cancelled. The 4.50 p.m.
Toronto-Ottawa train, due here at 10.10, arrived after 1.30 a.m. The
train had been put on a siding in Smiths Falls while
Toronto-to-Montreal trains were cleared.A CN spokesman in Ottawa
said the problem was essentially that Montreal to Ottawa to Smiths
Falls is single-line-track trying to replace the double-tracked main
line. CN adjustments meant delays, he said. The railway also
consolidated some passenger trains from Ottawa to Toronto, causing
delays up to six hours.The passenger said his train had been put on
a siding in Smiths Falls and passengers were given no idea when the
train would move. They were told only that five trains had priority
over them, he said. He said passengers were given no meal money
and were not offered alternate transportation to Ottawa. He said 30
persons left for Ottawa by taxi rather than wait. He suggested the
indifference shown by the CNR was in marked contrast to the policies of
airlines. Cutbacks blamedAnother passenger in Smiths Falls,
who had spent six hours waiting for his train to Toronto, added: "If I
didn't know better I'd say it was a cleverly contrived plot to alienate
the public from railways." The CNR operates its own track from
Montreal to Smiths Falls via Ottawa and has an agreement with the CPR
to run trains from Smiths Falls to Brockville. The CNR also has a
track from Smiths Falls to Napanee where it rejoins the main line.
However, use of this line meant more delays as crack passenger trains
such as the Turbo and Rapido could not run at maximum speeds. Would-be
passengers blamed railway cutbacks for lack of manpower to co-ordinate
trains in the emergency situation. Passengers calling from Smiths Falls
said there was no operator in the Canadian National station there to
advise them when trains were due.And no one at the CP Rail station could advise them of the situation. Similarly,
there is no operator between Napanee and Ottawa and the CNR was at a
loss to account for the progress or lack of progress of various trains.
A CN spokesman in Ottawa said last night no chances could be taken
because of safety considerations in co-ordinating the trains. That was little consolation to the more than 200 passengers stranded in Smiths Falls.